Beneteau

See also: Beneteau Guitars

Beneteau (Euronext: BEN) is a French sail and motor boat manufacturer, with production facilities in France and the United States.

Contents

History

Shipwright Benjamin Beneteau founded his company in 1884, at Croix-de-Vie, France to build sailing trawlers. In the mid sixties Benjamin's grandchildren Annette Benneteau Roux and her brother Andre Beneteau introduced a line of fiberglass boats. Madame Roux is still active in leadership.

Beneteau Today

The company is a large and recognized boat builder, commanding a substantial worldwide market share for sailing yachts, predominately in the United States, France and the United Kingdom. It has five factories in the Vendée region of France and one US plant in Marion, South Carolina. The Beneteau USA plant opened in 1986; since then the factory has nearly doubled in size to about 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2), with roughly 25 million of total capital invested in the US. This is considered to be an advanced marine factory; it is newer than most of its competitors factories.

The Beneteau group also owns the following brands:

Note in the models below that the First Series is much faster than the Beneteau Series (lower PHRF means a faster boat), the latter series have similar performance ratings to similarly sized Catalina models. Bénéteau vessels have won numerous prizes, among other European Yacht of the Year 2002, 2007 and 2009.

Beneteau Models

NOTE: PHRF shown is for Northern California Base Rate full keel standard mast unless otherwise described

First Series

These are racer/cruiser sailboats, with a higher emphasis on the racing aspects, yet are substantially equipped for comfortable cruising. Equipped with tall fractional rigs, high performance keels and upgraded deck hardware.

Current US Models:

Current World Models:

Prior Models:

  • First 18
  • First 21.7
  • First 210 Spirit
  • First 211
  • First 22
  • First 23
  • First 235
  • First 24
  • First 25
  • First 25.7
  • First 26
  • First 260 Spirit
  • First 265
  • First 27
  • First 27.7
  • First 28
  • First 285
  • First 29
  • First 30
  • First 300 Spirit
  • First 305
  • First 30E
  • First 310
  • First 32
  • First 325
  • First 32S5
  • First 33.7
  • First 34.7
  • First 345
  • First 35
  • First 35.7
  • First 35S7
  • First 35S5
  • First 36.7 PHRF 81 (Southern California rating)
  • First 36S7
  • First 375
  • First 38
  • First 38S5
  • First 40.7 PHRF 51 (Southern California rating
  • First 405
  • First 41S5
  • First 42
  • First 42S7
  • First 435
  • First 44.7 PHRF 39 (Southern California rating)
  • First 456
  • First 45f5
  • First 47.7
  • First 51
  • First 53f5
  • First Class 7
  • First Class 7.4
  • First Class 8
  • First Class 10
  • First Class 12
  • First Class Challenge
  • First Class Europe
  • First Class Solo

Beneteau Series aka Oceanis Series

These are cruising boats, though these boats are viable for Performance Handicapped Racing Fleet (PHRF) handicapped racing. In the US, they are referred to as the Beneteau series. In the rest of the world, they are referred to as the Oceanis series. Previously, these were referred to as the Oceanis series in the US, and much of the documentation still reflects this naming.

Current US Models:

Current World Models:

Prior Models:

Lagoon Models

Lagoon Catamarans are the world's best selling production Catamarans[1]. All of the boats are sloop rigs with spacious cabins in each hull and living space on the bridge deck.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lagoon Catamarans - About". http://www.catamarans.com/lagoon/about/index.asp. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 

External links

CAC Mid 60 companies of France (19 September 2011)